Undergraduate Engineer - Body Engineering Review

The internship helped me get a better understanding of what it's like to work in industry. I learned a lot about cars but also more general skills like how to manage a project, which can be applied in any company. JLR is quite a large company, so most people end up working in very specific areas which I don't enjoy very much. Overall, it was a valuable experience that will look good on my CV, but I doubt I will return for the graduate scheme.

As the intern, I felt like I was given a lot of the menial tasks which the lead engineers didn't have time to do. Although the work wasn't very satisfying for me, they were very glad that someone could get it done. Many of the (older) colleagues were also very keen on getting some input from 'a fresh pair of eyes'.

Both my manager and my mentor were very supportive. If I needed any help or wanted to organise visits to other departments, there was always someone I could ask. I had regular meetings with both of them to keep track of my projects and help me get more value out of my placement.

The first couple of weeks were slow, but as time went on I had more things to work on. Some days were very busy and others very quiet, depending on the workload.

For small projects I was given most of the responsibility or even full responsibility. For important projects, the main responsibility was with someone else and I would support them with their tasks. This is to be expected, since I don't have much expertise at this stage.

In my opinion, this placement won't help me much with my degree because I didn't acquire knowledge that is relevant to my course. It might have improved my work ethics, organisation and time management skills, however. I do think the experience will be useful when I get a job, as I have a better understanding of company structures and product development now.

Typical open office environment with hot desks. This allows for flexibility in terms of work location, although most people tend to stick to a specific area / desk. There is always some background noise, but it's generally not too loud or distracting. The office is fairly modern and bright and there is always air conditioning running.

Depends a lot on the line manager, some are more organised than others. Mine had several projects lined up for me to work on and got me involved with other people's projects early on. They also provide a project description for all undergraduates when they start the placement. I enjoyed the induction days as were very good to become more familiar with the company and to meet other undergraduates.

There are a lot of available training courses, some online and some in classrooms. Due to the limited duration of my placement I wasn't able to do all the training courses I was interested in, as some are booked out several months ahead. Most of these courses are completely free as an employee, so as long as your manager approves it, you can do as many as you want.

They are not very appealing to me, although this is mostly because I don't like the automotive industry. However, a successful internship pretty much guarantees a graduate scheme offer which is a great back up plan to have. The graduate scheme at JLR seems well organised and gives you quite a lot of freedom to explore different departments within the company.

Most 3 month undergraduates stayed in the same university halls, which was very useful for organising car shares and social activities. The induction days at the beginning of the placement also helped with meeting new people. There weren't any other undergraduates on my team, so I would only interact with them during break times or outside of work.

The main offices are in fairly remote areas, so there isn't much going on around there. But there are definitely things to do in the nearby cities, such as Leamington Spa, especially because of the universities in Coventry. There are several pubs which often have weekly events like karaoke and bingo, and a few clubs. On the main streets, there's also restaurants and bars.